Modica Market: A marriage made in grocery heaven (Photos)

Published: Thursday, July 24, 2014 at 08:01 AM.

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Soon after marrying in 1949 Charlie and Sarah Modica opened a food store in
Bessemer
,
Ala.
, on the outskirts of
Birmingham
. She was 19 and he was 21.

After working side by side through the years and raising three children, the Modicas decided it was time to look for a retirement house at the beach.

The closest beach to
Birmingham
was South Walton.

As the couple drove along
County Road
30A they came upon a little red cottage at the new development of
Seaside
, which was serving as the home/office/and model home of developer Robert Davis.

As the couple sat on the porch with
Davis
and talked, they found common ground in their Southern roots as they were all from
Birmingham
.

Davis
told the Modicas of his dream for his development, that it would be built in the tradition of small towns they were familiar with, the kind they all grew up in.

Davis told them he wanted it to be like in the old days with no trailers, and houses painted a certain color, where people sat on their front porches, and everyone knew everyone else — a walkable community with shared walkways and picket fences.

Soon after marrying in 1949 Charlie and Sarah Modica opened a food store in Bessemer, Ala., on the outskirts of Birmingham. She was 19 and he was 21.

After working side by side through the years and raising three children, the Modicas decided it was time to look for a retirement house at the beach.

The closest beach to Birmingham was South Walton.

As the couple drove along County Road 30A they came upon a little red cottage at the new development of Seaside, which was serving as the home/office/and model home of developer Robert Davis.

As the couple sat on the porch with Davis and talked, they found common ground in their Southern roots as they were all from Birmingham.

Davis told the Modicas of his dream for his development, that it would be built in the tradition of small towns they were familiar with, the kind they all grew up in.

Davis told them he wanted it to be like in the old days with no trailers, and houses painted a certain color, where people sat on their front porches, and everyone knew everyone else — a walkable community with shared walkways and picket fences.

And when Davis found out the Modicas were in the grocery business, he asked Charlie if he would like to do a grocery here at Seaside.

"Charlie thought he was too old to do that at age 53, but he thought it would be just a little neighborhood store at the beach, and said Ok," says Sarah today.

The Modicas sold their company in Birmingham and moved to Seaside. Theirs was the fourth house built.

With not many residents, Davis told the Modicas it was too early to open the grocery, but he would let them know when it was time, said Sarah.

Their son Charles, however, had inherited his parents' strong work ethic and using money he had saved, at age 21 jumped in and opened his own Sip 'n Dip store to serve sandwiches, ice cream, lemonade, shakes, and sodas to potential real estate buyers and browsers.

"Mother taught me to save money," Charles says today.

Soon, the town of Seaside was catching on and Davis told the Modicas it was time for the town to have a grocery.

The Modicas opened Modica Market on the bottom floor of the HollBuilding in 1989.

"We were thinking it would just be a little neighborhood store," says Sarah, "but, Robert took us to New York and introduced us to Dean & DeLuca's high-end gourmet grocery, and Balducci's, which is so unique and jammed full of merchandise in a small space. It was a gourmet style that we were not familiar with living in small-town Alabama. He knew what he wanted. So, using those as our models, we just jumped in and started."

The market is now an iconic anchor in the town and is a place not only Seaside homeowners shop, but also visitors who make their first stop at Seaside a visit to Modica Market, where they find the culinary options in the gourmet realm and the Modicas always present to extend a hospitable welcome and call you by name.

Charlie and Sarah worked side by side all of their married life.

Charlie Sr. passed away in 2010, and Sarah is not in the store as much as she used to be, but the legend goes on.

Daughter Carmel and Charles Jr. now oversee the running of the market. However, Charles has worked there all of his adult life. Carmel can often be found running the register, and a third generation has come onboard with the addition of grandson Michael Bridges.

With the market's successful concept and name, the family has been invited several times to open stores at other locations.

"But it was never a wish of ours to go beyond Seaside," said Sarah. "Look at all the nice people we have gotten to meet here, and we got to be in the movie!"

The movie is "The Truman Show," which was filmed in Seaside in 1997.

Making the market as successful as it has been has not come without a lot of elbow grease.

"It takes a lot of hard work," said Sarah. "The kids are here for 12 or 14 hours a day."

However, she said she would not do anything different.

"We believed in Robert from the moment we sat on his porch swing at the red cottage with his little dogs in his lap, and he told me about his vision and how it would be. That told me because of the restrictions, property values would be protected. We bought into his vision, but the way it all has turned out has been beyond our expectations," she said.

In keeping with Davis's vision of traditional small-towns, Modica Market has provided first jobs for most of the nearby youth in the area, as well as summer jobs for those who return year after year.